Foreign Surveillance
145 Articles

Huawei Hacking is a Security Scandal
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that people who are neither naïve nor who hate freedom can reasonably disagree with Edward Lucas and his post from this morning…

International Proscriptions on Mass Surveillance (or What’s Missing in the Greenwald vs. Wittes Debate)
[Editor’s Note: On Tuesday, Ben Wittes and Ashley Deeks over at Lawfare replied to the following post. And Ryan has since posted a rejoinder to Ben and Ashley.] This weekend’s…

Who Watches the Watchers?–A Rejoinder to Steve Vladeck
I am grateful for Steve’s careful response to my post, “Democratic Platitudes,” which examined his original post, “Does Espionage Porn Make Us Stronger?” Having benefited…

Optic Nerve – A Digital Mugbook & the Questions It Raises
“It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic,…

Espionage Porn and Democratic Platitudes: A Response to Rahul Sagar
I don’t have much to say in reply to Rahul Sagar’s thoughtful response to my January 23 post, “Does Espionage Porn Make Us Stronger?” Much of that is because,…

GCHQ Surveillance Likely Illegal, Says Leading UK Barrister
In yesterday morning’s News Roundup, I noted that a leading lawyer in the UK has submitted legal advice to a parliamentary group concluding that mass surveillance programs conducted…

Lost in the Bulk Collection Debate — Fifth Circuit Affirms Life Sentence of Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari
With most (if not all) the focus these days on bulk collection under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, Section 702 of FISA, or E.O. 12333, it is easy to forget that foreign intelligence…

Does “Espionage Porn” Make Us Stronger?
Although they have somewhat different focuses, one can find much in common in recent posts about the continuing byproducts of the Snowden disclosures (including last Friday’s…

Overview of Proposals to Reform Signals Intelligence Programs in Today’s Speech by the President
In today’s speech on Signals Intelligence Programs, President Obama outlined a number of “concrete and substantial reforms that [the] Administration intends to adopt…

New Report Questions Value of Section 702 Warrantless Surveillance
Today over at the New America Foundation, researchers have published a paper examining the role of dragnet programs in the United States’ counterterrorism operations. The paper…

10 Questions for the Review Group Members to Publicly Address at the Senate Hearings
The members of the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies will appear on Tuesday, January 14th for hearings before the Senate Judiciary…

EU parliamentary committee’s preliminary report on NSA surveillance
A European Union parliamentary committee has published its preliminary conclusions as part of its inquiry into surveillance of EU citizens by the NSA as well as surveillance bodies…